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Ingebrigtsen's, Westrom's town hall meetings Feb. 19

District 11 residents will have a chance to speak with their legislators during a series of town hall meetings on Friday, Feb. 19.

District 11 Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen and District 11A Rep. Torrey Westrom will continue their tradition of co-hosting town hall meetings.

Ingebrigtsen and Westrom will be at seven meetings in the district, including one in Morris and Chokio.

The legislators will be at Federated Telephone in Chokio from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., and from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Detoy's Family Restaurant in Morris.

The Feb. 19 town hall meeting schedule is:

 7-8 a.m. -- The Cattle Club, Elbow Lake.

 9-10 a.m. -- Federated Telephone Cooperative, Chokio.

 10:30-11:30 a.m. -- Detoy's Family Restaurant, Morris.

 12:20-1:20 p.m. -- Dew Drop Inn, Hoffman.

 2-3 p.m. -- Ruby's City Restaurant, Ashby.

 3:30-4:30 p.m. -- Crestview Manor, Evansville.

 5-6 p.m. -- Traveler's Inn Restaurant, Alexandria.

In addition, Westrom and Ingebrigtsen soon will be making their annual legislative survey available in local newspaper publications.

The lawmakers say there has been a good turnout for previous town hall meetings and the input from residents has helped them during the legislative sessions.

The current session began last week.

The meetings are free and open to the public.

"A big town hall topic last year was the budget deficit," Westrom said. "There probably will be a lot of economic talk this time around as we travel the district. People likely will want to address the state's budget deficit again and offer suggestions as we work toward a solution."

Regardless of the topic, these town meetings provide a casual setting to talk about issues, Ingebrigtsen said.

"We enjoy speaking face to face with local folks to get a real grass-roots feel of what's on people's minds," Ingebrigtsen said. "Area citizens seem to appreciate the chance to talk about what is most important to them; it doesn't matter how large or small the issue is."

Anyone who can't attend any of the town meetings but would like to discuss legislative issues can contact Ingebrigtsen at (651) 297-8063 or by e-mail at the address sen.bill.ingebrigtsen@senate.mn.